Design and operation of micro-chemical plants—bridging the gap between nano, micro and macro technologies

Abstract

In the last decade, much effort has been devoted to developing micro devices for reaction, mixing and separation. Many researchers have reported the advantages of using such micro devices for production. However, few micro chemical plants are used for real production. In this research, the design and operation problems of micro chemical plants are discussed from the viewpoint of process systems engineering. First, the design problems of micro chemical plants are classified into two sub-problems: the design of the micro unit operations and the design of the entire micro plant. For each of the sub-problems the features of the micro systems are explained and the dominant problems which must be solved by process systems engineers are pointed out. Then, the characteristics of the instrumentation and control problems of the micro chemical plants are summarized. Finally, it is pointed out that the research on the design and control problem of micro chemical plants has the possibility to act as a bridge between chemical engineering science and process systems engineering.